According to Diane Abbott, Britain is facing a crisis of masculinity. In a speech made on Thursday under the auspices of the thinktank Demos, the shadow health minister warned of a generation of angry, inarticulate young men who had no idea of their role in society. Raised on a diet of pornography and consumerism, they were "caught between the stiff-upper-lip approach of previous generations" and the "pornified ideals" of a youth culture that featured Viagra as a party drug and promoted sexism and homophobia.More prone to depression and less well educated than young women, and perhaps jobless despite a degree, they often found themselves trapped in the parental home as long-term adolescents who increasingly resented family life. In Abbott's phrase, they were hyper-masculine  that is, aggressive and misogynistic  without any understanding of the many-sided nature of a man's life and no talent for self-expression.

The speech was contested even before it was delivered. The columnist and novelist Tony Parsons wrote that men have never been better  never as articulate about their emotions, or more involved with their children and partners. To remedy any remaining flaws, he wanted boxing lessons in every school and a return to the "manly virtues" that would oblige good men to protect women and children by punching bullies "in the cakehole". Here was a man joining in the debate, as so many women writers have recently invited us to, and finding part of the solution in how men behaved in the East End c1948, or at least as how Ealing studios imagined they did. A world in which a man lands a blow on an adulterer and says: "That'll larn ya"; a world without "nonces" or killers photographing their dead 12-year-old victims; a world where grooming still means "Don't overdo the Brylcreem, sonny....

Could the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and the Millennials have handled a severe depression, dust bowls, 40% unemployment, starvation and want? Could they have won World War II against three implacable foes who meant to destroy or enslave us? We'll never know, I suppose.

...the shadow health minister warned of a generation of angry, inarticulate young men who had no idea of their role in society. Raised on a diet of pornography and consumerism, they were "caught between the stiff-upper-lip approach of previous generations" and the "pornified ideals" of a youth culture that featured Viagra as a party drug and promoted sexism and homophobia.

From my observation the real problem todays boys and young men face as they transition to manhood, is that society has totally gone in the tank for women. It has become so fashionable to cheer on the ladies, that the poor little boys and young men are left to fend for themselves. And that today is tantamount to swimming against the roaring river.

Where are the male role models? Today's leading man in the media is all too often more efiminate than the women in the 50s and 60s of the last century.

A guy today is actually looked down on or discounted if he opens the door for a young woman. If he does he's denegrating her. The next babe comes along and if he doesn't open the door, he's a disgraceful lout.

Don't dare raise you voice boys, and if you can squeeze out tears, bonus points aplenty.

Can't tell you how many times I've heard it said society doesn't really need men these days. Then the women who have just said that lament the fact there are no real men around anymore.

Say you're sorry and your weak. Don't say it and you're conceited and not worthy then either.

I love the women who just spoil young boys rotten, giving them hollow compliments ever few seconds, just before they sit down in the living room with their friends and rip ever male they've come in contact with in their lives over the age of 18.

Where do these women think the men over 18 come from? Dropped from space in the middle of the night?

It's just such a double standard. Young boys, great. Men over 18, evil demon seed...

Guys are fed so much bull. Be vulnerable. Don't be afraid to show your emotions. Don't challenge women. Women have it hard enough as it is...

LOL, and this woman lays it all off on pornography? Really?

In the 70s and 80s the powers that be in the education system determined that the language used in school was boy-centric. The phrases and concepts appealed to boys, not girls. Of course this had to be corrected. And so they set about correcting it to the extent that the perceived problem was so fixed, that they reversed the problem. All of a sudden, it was girl-centric. And then, no problem at all.

Boys are bored stiff. Recesses where they used to blow off steam are now in many places history. The very place where boys learned their social skills to deal with other men, was all of a sudden short-circuited. No need for that girls... huh!

Well folks, the societal engineers have worked their magic. Women far outnumber men in universities. Who could have seen this coming?

Hey men, if your kid give you problems, just call the police on them... LMAO

Don't you dare raise a finger to get those kids back in line. You're so relegated by this society that not only your wife tells you what to do and you better do it, but your own kids can tell you what to do, and you better do it.

Good luck gals. It's a brave new world you folks ushered in. Enjoy...

2
posted on 05/19/2013 3:06:01 AM PDT
by DoughtyOne
(Before it's all over, Obama may demand extradition to Kenya, because he was born there...)

I’m pretty sure that the turning point was the Vietnam War: the guys who had guts joined - or accepted their draft - and served without complaint. The rest hid out and found excuses (”I’d fight for my country - just not this war”). The dodgers wore fricking flowers and bell bottoms and grew their hair out and never regained their manhood.

Now those weaklings are in power and their kids have followed their example. Is it any wonder that Democrats/incompetents/homosexuals are changing all that matters with little resistance?

6
posted on 05/19/2013 3:52:05 AM PDT
by Chainmail
(A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)

and I would add young men are expected to hold back when other demographics— women, certain minorities— are on the field. It is a huge mess. 25 years ago I could tell which young men in my platoon had grown up in a single parent (mother) household. Now it’s the whole bloody culture.

It says a lot about the “feminist” movement when they have to emasculate men to be ‘successful’. There is some hope: I have a thoroughly modern niece who has met a really great guy .... it has been wonderful to see them embracing traditional roles - he loves it when she cooks for him (she does it because she loves him, wants him to be happy) and she likes looking out the window and seeing him doing “manly” (her description) things like chopping wood for the wood stove. Of course, she helps him fix the combine and get in the hay ... they work as a team. My advice to my nieces was not to marry a ‘man’ with a handshake like a sweaty marshmallow .... so far, so good - they’re finding guys that love the outdoors, have a ‘handy’ streak, and are truly ‘manly’ ... but then they are truly ‘womanly’ and those two characteristics attract each other. BTW - my nieces and their men were all raised in families where it was God first, then family ... no coincidence they all turned out so well.

A guy today is actually looked down on or discounted if he opens the door for a young woman.  Not true here. You need to move to the South

I once had a young "woman" make snide remarks when I opened a door for her. I asked her if maybe I should let her open the door for me. She said I could shove it because she wouldn't do that. I then told her that it was a good thing I was willing to open it or we'd both be stuck outside together and enough of her mouth would cause me to break a cardinal rule about hitting the weaker sex. I had a great day after that but I would guess she spewed bile for most of it.

13
posted on 05/19/2013 4:33:52 AM PDT
by trebb
(Where in the the hell has my country gone?)

I rememeber the story, it may be a local one of a mother painting her sons (5 yrs) nails and being exuberant about him being able to express himself. THIS is a microcosm of the dammage these mental midgets have inflicted on society where masculinity is agressiveness and aggressiveness is a no no.

Well said, Doughty. The militant feminists have won. This is what they wanted. Now they're complaining that all of the "good men" are gone. Well... what did you expect?

In the 70s and 80s the powers that be in the education system determined that the language used in school was boy-centric.

This is never more prevalent than in our higher education system now. Visit any engineering college in the United States. From Maine to California, you'll find that the overwhelming majority of engineering courses are occupied by non-American men. American women, not so much, but non-American men: everywhere.

The feminists literally bred the curiosity out of our boys. Schools used to feature hands-on hard sciences. We used to play war and tag and capture the flag in the school yard during recess/P.E. Now the boys are disinterested in anything that doesn't involve TV, video games, or sex.

Political correctness has destroyed everything about the essential human experience we all KNOW to be true. Political correctness is neither political nor correct. It is destructive and wrong, and we really need to do something about all of this crap infecting our society.

15
posted on 05/19/2013 4:43:39 AM PDT
by rarestia
(It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)

The Boy Scouts is a premiere organization on helping groom a young boy into a man. Promoting the values and virtues necessary....

I was proud to serve as a Scoutmaster for several years....

Regarding myself, I know what’s right and wrong so I do the right thing almost without thought or second consideration. I ain’t perfect but I endeavor every day to hold to the standards I’ve set, not anyone elses....

As a result, I care little about what anyone else thinks of me....I don’t need acceptance nor approval from others.

So when I hold a door open for a lady, I don’t do it for her approval or acceptance, I do it because I hold to those standards.

For example, I enjoy cigars.... Everyone tells me I need to quit (mindless little robots) however I enjoy them in moderation and totally WITHOUT GUILT.

When you have strong foundation standards and faith ingrained deeply.....and adhere to them, your life, choices and direction greatly simplifies and you become calm and happy versus agitated and angry as so many male youth are today....

“You may think you are no longer weak and defenseless but if I punch you in the mouth, I bet you tell the police that I hit a weak defenseless woman “.....Coworker to a feminist coworker. She complained to management but they passed on deciding whether a white woman was higher on the Diversity chain than a black man.

18
posted on 05/19/2013 4:49:50 AM PDT
by AppyPappy
(You never see a massacre at a gun show.)

For the last several years, I was involved in Cub Scouts. It was truly a depressing experience. Bunch of moms as leaders that had no control. I was only male leader. Most of the boys were from single mom or grandparents raising them.

Once I got involved, I did not tolerate the disrespect. I actually raised my voice at first often to get control. Several of the mothers complained including other leaders. When they did I had a simple question. “Why is your boy in the Scouts?” I got all sorts of answers, but I would tell them that the purpose of Scouts is to make strong men. It requires discipline for a boy to become a man. Otherwise he is just an overgrown boy.

The best part was that most of the boys actually desired the authority. They are looking for a strong man to lead them but sadly have very few to chose from today.

When I was a Scoutmaster, I told the parents that my job was to provide their boys with a safe environment in which to fail, because we learn more from our failures than from successes. The Mothers would be up in arms, but the Dads would nod knowingly.

For too many parents, “BSA” stood for “Baby Sitters of America”. “Mind our kid while we self-actual ice!”

The Boy Scouts is a premiere organization on helping groom a young boy into a man. Promoting the values and virtues necessary....

I'm glad you mentioned that. For several years here in Canada, the Boy Scouts have been integrated. Yes, girls are allowed to join Cubs and Scouts, and do. Of course, boys are not allowed to join Brownies and Girl Guides (hopefully none have ever thought of doing so). I have always held that boys need to have an outlet available to them to just be themselves, benefit from wholesome male bonding, without any feminine distractions. I was in the Scouting movement from the late 50's through the 60's and loved every minute of it. What I learned in Scouting still influences a lot of my actions and values today.

24
posted on 05/19/2013 5:10:25 AM PDT
by Dartman
(Mubarak and Gaddafi are going to look like choirboys when this is over)

Compared to the “Greatest Generation”, there is no comparison. Though I hold out hope for the latest one. I am not sure about the Brits, but I suspect their masculinity started on a downward spiral about the same time as ours did. Around 1960-1965. I blame Lyndon Johnson and The Beetles. He sparked the birth of the “Great American Chicken” and they sparked the rise of the “boy bands” that sound like girl bands.

32
posted on 05/19/2013 5:52:02 AM PDT
by Tupelo
(The Government lies, then the media lies to cover up the government lies.)

One of the huge differences between conservatism and liberalism is that conservatives know failure is a part of life and cannot be avoided for 99% of the population at some point in their lives. Liberals wish to create a world by which failure is impossible. Which is an impossible task in the first place and does a person no good by shielding the person from learning experiences. Like growing up in a perfectly insulated house. But when the person leaves the house, they are much more vulnerable to disease. Which is why I guess many you libs don't want to leave the cocoon.

Baby boomers killed a million communists in Vietnam...that war was lost by World War II and Korean War-generation leftists who were loyal to American Leftism and the Soviet Union. Gen X, Gen Y, and Millenials conquered Iraq in 3 weeks, captured Fallujah with only a couple hundred casualties (a city similar to Hue in Vietnam), drove out the Taliban in Afghanistan, came close to establishing a stable Government in Iraq.....and these will probably be undone by Leftist Baby Boomers still upset that Eastern Europe was liberated from their hero-nation The Soviet Union.

The point is, you give Americans an obstacle we still have enough Americans who can overcome it.

Could the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and the Millennials have handled a severe depression, dust bowls, 40% unemployment, starvation and want? Could they have won World War II against three implacable foes who meant to destroy or enslave us? We'll never know, I suppose.

Some of us may not ever know, but this Crisis Era is already in full swing. Crisis Eras are defined as a major economic upheaval and a major war, usually in that order.

If history cycles as it has previously done, this Crisis Era will run from approximately 2005 to 2025, give or take a few years on each end.

Gen-x and the older Gen-y are already experiencing more than 40% unemployment.

Gen-x and Gen-y most likely will experience their "great war", likely already underway, likely against a commie/muslim alliance, likely against more and greater enemies than the Axis alliance, likely to heavily involve the mainland USA. If we do not win, there will likely come a New Dark Age.

The point is, you give Americans an obstacle we still have enough Americans who can overcome it.

I agree with you.

Although it looks hopeless, there is something in men that has been ingrained in them for millennium that cannot be suppressed in a few short years by nagging feminists.

Case in point my cousin's first born boy, from the beginning, was made to play with the gender neutral, non competitive games and toys.

Well, she divorced and her kids were babysit by our mom(this is in the seventies) Although us boys were older, and didn't want to hang around a four year old, sometimes we allowed him to "play' with us, whether it was baseball, tag or just roughhousing. And of course we have plenty of old plastic toy guns, plastic toy soldiers and old GI Joes, which he took to like a duck to water

And this boy who was never allowed to play with toy guns,or watch "violent" shows or even Bugs Bunny cartoons, went home and started "shooting" everything(with his finger gun)

His mom was surprised at his aggressiveness, never suspected us older boys would hang around her boy.

When he went to school and meet little boys his own age, she finally gave up her attempt to tame her little boy.

Today's boys' natural masculinity has not disappeared, just misdirected into video games and earlier sexual activity.

“Better men” is always a hard thing to say. For example, if you look at modern veterans, many of whom have fought in a dozen or more deployments, against an intractable and ruthless enemy, you will find men with impressive strength of character.

If this is not seen in the youth, it is because they have not been challenged to exhibit such strength. Instead their energies go in other directions, for better or worse.

In Britain today, you see a society debilitated by socialism and nanny government. But you also will see the result, the growth of movements such as UKIP and the EDL, that abhor socialism and the surrender of national pride to the faceless gray men of Brussels.

If anything, Britain’s greatest generation resulted in the weakness and depravity in their youth, exhausted by two such great wars, demanding generations just to recover.

But if they are finally recovering, then we can but hope they will cast off the foolishness and empty promises, and return to a path of prosperity and strength.

There’s something else I left out, that I think needs to be touched on here.

Along with the move to ‘normalize’ homosexual, transexual, and other behaviors, there was an aspect of it that gets mentioned too seldom.

When men were men, it was fairly easy to identify yourself sexually, and develop the behaviors that typified your gender.

Today that has become blurred.

There have been instances where young people have been challenged as to what their true orientation is. Kids, always trying to evolve into their proper role during the awkward years, are now being asked, “How do you know, unless you have experimented?”

This cannot be having a great impact on todays male youth who are evolving into manhood.

44
posted on 05/19/2013 12:58:02 PM PDT
by DoughtyOne
(Before it's all over, Obama may demand extradition to Kenya, because he was born there...)

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